Anyone would be rendered speechless in the presence of global icon singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, who at 5’10” towers over many singers in the music industry.

Riding high with the launch of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, her eleventh studio album, Taylor is at the pinnacle of stardom, raking in success once again.

Her Look

Taylor radiates large doses of charm, grace and sexiness. After all she is one of the highest-paid singers in the world today. When she smiles, her luminous blue eyes, with that tint of black, sparkle. Her figure stands out, but with neatly tucked in outfits that don’t reveal her true statistics. The same cannot be said of other female music stars who are known more for what they reveal than their singing. With Taylor, it’s the other way round. It was for this reason that I wrote about her and decided she was our cover girl and cover story in The Teenager, September 2009 issue. The Teenager Today always looks at the inner beauty of a person, rather than outside appearances. Taylor fitted the profile perfectly then and even now, 15 years later.

What really makes her the eye candy of social media, newspapers and magazines around the world that serenade her all the time?

Her Lyrics

As America’s sweetheart, Taylor could not be missed on the country circuit that she began with, moving on to a more pop-rock edge as the albums rolled out. She’s been around for some time, and has carved a niche for herself after her self-titled debut album skyrocketed her to superstardom. Since the age of fourteen she has had a full songwriter’s publishing deal, most often in collaboration with many others who helped her music grow.

Now as a 34-year-old, Taylor has been praised for her maturity, right from her second album onwards, in which she sang about boys and heartbreak, fun, sneaking out of windows at night to meet boys, while gently playing the guitar and self-penning all 16 songs on her album, giving her clear leeway to speak her heart out.

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Standing in the sun,
Gonna have a lot of fun,
Bring out the best,
Keep the devil at rest,
Show it, show it, and do it, do it,
Come on… look inside, don’t try to hide.
Rise and shine,
You got the talents,
Move on, move on…
The beautiful people, young people,
Choose the teen… the teen of the year!

… sang Usha Uthup in her jingle specially composed for the Teen of the Year 2002 pageant. The catchy 10-second jingle was played at all the Teen of the Year pageants thereafter, until the curtains came down on it in 2012. With words and music by Fr Robin Gomes, SDB, Usha didi as she is fondly called, motivated the youth to reach for the stars in her short motivational jingle.

With a voice that can set your hair on end and live performances that rock, Usha Uthup packs a punch wherever she goes. The dazzling and charismatic singer with her trademark jazzy vermillion, traditional colourful necklaces and her kanjeevaram saris, adorned with fresh flowers in her hair, is a regular at most events.

Regarded as one of India’s earliest female pop and jazz singers, who has performed at nightclubs to packed concerts across India and the world, done Bollywood music, has over a 100 music albums and counting, Usha’s music appeals to everyone. When Usha sings, you just can’t help dancing.

The legend recently performed at a fundraiser in Mumbai for Alert India wherein in an exclusive interview with VERUS FERREIRA, the prolific singer recounts her over 53-year-old musical journey.

From Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Rambha Ho and Koi Yahaan Nache Nache, you have come a long way. How do you look back on your long and eventful career?
It’s been 53 years since I’ve been singing, singing English songs long before I got a chance to sing in a Hindi film. I’ve been singing in nightclubs since 1969. It’s been absolutely wonderful, and my journey so far has been really, really amazing because people have always supported me. People like you, who you know, who want to still write, write about me and get youngsters to read about me, it’s just fantastic! So when I look back on this long career of mine, I can only say with all humility, thank you God, thank you to my musicians, thank you to all the audiences that I’ve had for so long.

You’ve made a career singing jazz at nightclubs wearing kanjeevaram saris, gajras and bindis. How did this fashion statement come about which even today flows well wherever you go?
I sang jazz at nightclubs wearing kanjeevaram saris, gajras and bindis and this I did only because I come from a very normal, traditional South Indian middle-class family. I just wore whatever my sisters wore, whatever my mother wore and whatever saris were in the house, I just wore them. As for the bindis, it started off with small bindis, then slowly the sizes became big and then creative, in between became even bigger. Soon it became a fashion statement. People love all this and love the kanjeevaram shoes I wear. The kids say she’s so cool, some say I’m so swag! That’s all because of all of you.

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If you browse Olivia Rodrigo’s website, you won’t find much to go through, but the content that she has put up is enough to gauge who the young singing star really is. She showcases her music and videos which in a short span of time have made a name in the music industry. The 18-year-old’s bio states that she has been singing for as long as she can remember and hit it big just days before the Coronavirus pandemic began in 2020.

Born as Olivia Isabel Rodrigo on 20 February 2003, her mother Sophia is American of Irish-German descent, and her father Ronald, a therapist, is Filipino-American.

While growing up in Murrieta, California, Rodrigo’s first love was singing. She took singing and acting classes when she was hardly six. Her love for performing grew and she soon landed roles in several school plays as well as regional musical theatre. 

Rodrigo first appeared on screen in an Old Navy ad commercial and made her acting debut at the age of 11 portraying the lead role of Grace Thomas in the film An American Girl: Grace Stirs up Success (the film is available on Amazon in India).

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His is not a big name on the music charts, and while some might still be figuring out who this newbie is, Conan Gray might look like just another model off the record industry’s Gen Z. His story is something like the movie Eighth Grade, except with songwriting skills and a fairytale ending you’d never expect.

Singer-songwriter Conan Lee Gray was born on 5 December 1998, in Lemon Grove, California, to an Irish military father and a Japanese mother. He made it to Japan for a few years only to be with his ailing grandfather, which also gave him an opportunity to pick up a few lines of Japanese. His parents, however, divorced when he was three years old. His teenage years were spent in Georgetown, Texas. He was influenced by the art and music scene there and thought of taking the music line seriously after recording a few songs on his official YouTube channel in 2013 when he was barely nine.

In 2014, 14-year-old Conan sat on his bed in Georgetown, recording music all by himself. Like tens of thousands of teens, he had attracted a small but active following on YouTube by uploading short vlogs, photos, drawings, with titles like “Socially Awkward??” and other such notes. He had begun uploading covers of popular songs as well, like a ukulele-assisted rendition of one of his musical influences, Adele’s Make You Feel My Love.

A song called Idle Town, a wistful ode to his senior year of high school and his small town, USA youth, led to his big break. The video for the song cuts between filtered footage of the singer hanging out with his friends, and Gray walking alone down a suburban street while mouthing lyrics into a water bottle, his Chalamet-esque black hair bouncing as he moves with practised ease. He got many good vibes including a few snide remarks, but then he was onto something, so it really didn’t dent his ego.

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Aspiring singer, Jason Ignatius, in a free-wheeling chat with ELSA LYCIAS JOEL, talks about his working experience, his favourite day, and more.

When did you first sing on stage? Did you have butterflies in your stomach?
Yes. I was extremely nervous, so much so that I couldn’t hold the mic steady and it shook the entire time. Surprisingly, so many people came up to me afterwards and said I “shredded” the performance and that was honestly where I started my journey — a melody and some courage.

Does love for music run in your family?
Most certainly. My parents grew up not only listening to music but also played at least one instrument. I play piano and lean more to the recent pop and R ‘n’ B while my parents are all about the 70’s and 80’s. Not a day goes by where I’m not singing or playing the piano or even recording music on my phone.

Have you ever had a formal vocal training?
Before I went to college, I didn’t have any formal vocal training. Most of my knowledge about singing in terms of technique and other areas were mainly me emulating artistes that I love like Bridgit Mendler. She had such an amazing pop voice which not only showed great control over notes but also a wide vocal range. However, when I joined the college, I was so much in love with music that I pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Music. There I had all the formal training a guy could ask for which only catapulted my abilities and I am so thankful for every class.

Do you believe in “born singers”, the impact of genes?
I absolutely believe in born singers! I can speak from personal experience that all the way from my great-grandmother, music has not only been a pastime but an essential part of our family dynamic. My grandmother learnt how to sing and play the piano, but when it came to my dad, he sang, played the piano and was a choir director. As for me, I can sing, play the piano and guitar, and make records on my computer.

What were the first singles like? The writing, composing, editing and the producer-musician vibing…
Ever since the beginning of 2018 I’ve been putting out music. I love writing even though a lot of my ideas come in the middle of night, but when I take my tracks I’ve made to the studio, the brilliant minds there take my ideas and create a masterpiece is something to brag about!

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She’s taking over the music world, but how much do you really know about Halsey? We’ve got you covered with almost everything you need to know about the Without Me star.

Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, popularly known as Halsey, is an American pop artist and songwriter. Her father, Chris Frangipane, is of African-American and Irish ancestry, while her mother, Nicole, is of Italian, Irish and Hungarian heritage. Her mother works for security in a hospital while her father manages a car dealership. Halsey has two brothers.

Born in Edison, New Jersey, Halsey learnt to play the violin, viola and cello, moving on to the acoustic guitar when she was 14 years old. A quiet child, she had to move to different places in the U.S. as her parents took odd jobs that made travel and stay difficult at one place. Into her early teens, while in high school, she was bullied often by other students, so much so that she once attempted suicide which led to a 17-day hospitalization. Following this, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, similar to her mother.

When she was 17, she began living with her boyfriend on Halsey Street in Brooklyn. It’s probably this street name or a reference to Halsey Street station of the New York City subway that made her pick the name Halsey. It is also claimed that her name is an anagram of her first name, Ashley. It was here that she first began to love music and take interest in it.

In 2012, she completed her schooling from Warren Hills Regional High School in New Jersey. She enrolled in Rhode Island School of Design, but fell short of money and could not continue the course. From there it was community college which was also short-lived. Back home Halsey’s parents were against the life she was leading. She was asked to leave the family home. She moved in with her now ex-boyfriend’s friends who lived in a basement in lower Manhattan, and at times in a shelter for homeless people in New York.

While living on her own, Halsey started writing music and posting music videos on social media, even taking a dig at Taylor Swift. The Haylor Song was a parody of Taylor Swift’s I Knew You Were Trouble about Swift’s relationship with singer Harry Styles. The song received attention worldwide.

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